Cup of Enlightenment
by Chaos Silk
Summary: A journey told through tea. (The tale of FF7 retold from Cid's point of view, focusing on what's really important) Giftfic for ALynnl.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: For Sue (ALynnl), who is wonderful and deserves so much more. She wanted Cid and his goddamn tea, so she gets Cid and his goddamn tea. I make no apologies for the swearing, that's all on Cid. I'm from the south-eastern part of the US, iced tea is a big deal here -my family has their own secret recipe-, so I've passed a bit of this onto Cid.

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Cid's journey begins, as all good things in life should, with a proper glass of tea. It is thicker than mud and sweeter than sin, almost exactly like his grandmother used to make. A ice-filled glass of this on a hot day is a little slice of heaven, one that he willingly shares with anyone that comes to visit -another thing passed down by his grandmother: proper hospitality-.

On that fateful day his guests were people from Shinra, only one of whom took a glass -Palmer, that fat idiot-, and some idiots who wandered in without having the decency to knock, blathering on about shit Cid didn't give a fuck about and, more importantly, not sitting down and drinking their goddamn tea like a good guest should. The latter served as a distraction from the former. Part of him knew that the new President had no intention of reviving the Space program, but a man could dream, couldn't he?

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They drifted for hours in the open ocean, long enough for Cid to learn that these people never shut the fuck up. It was an endless stream of chatter that he couldn't muster the energy to listen to. By the end of the lecture about saving the planet -newsflash: Cid didn't fucking care- and something about being in Sephiroth's anti-fanclub, he was so desperate for silence he did something he had sworn he would never do.

"Y'all are making me need a fucking drink," he swore at them, maneuvering so he could get at the emergency supplies stashed away in the Tiny Bronco. He pulled out a bottle of purified water and then dug around for the sealed container Shera had insisted on putting there in case he ever crash landed. He opened it and poured a little of the powder into the bottle, frowned at it, then poured about twice as much as the initial amount. He put the cap back on the bottle and gave it a good shake before taking a drink.

He made a face at the taste. It was a pale, but passable, imitation of his normal tea, which made it acceptable to keep drinking, but he hated himself for it. Somewhere out there, his grandmother was preparing a wooden spoon for his behind because what proper person drank instant anything?

His newly acquired cohorts exchanged a look. "So, when you said you needed a drink, you meant tea?" The wannabe-ninja asked, looking like she had a firework shoved up her ass. Cid snorted at her.

"What the fuck else?" He took another sip of his fake-tea, scowling the entire time.

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Wutai was hot and confusing, not even the food tasted right. The tea they served was nice and strong even if it was served in a funny-looking cup. The waitress gave him a funny look when he asked for a pot of sugar and then promptly dumped half of it in his cup as soon as she handed it to him. He didn't care, after that, it was perfect.

Perfect enough to ignore the fact that the Turks had just walked through the door. Tea like that deserved his full attention.

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There was a special place in hell reserved for whoever was in charge of making the tea at Golden Saucer. Cid had nothing against fruit, as long as it was fucking fruit and not masquerading as his goddamn tea. This wasn't even counting the fact that it was saturated with so much sugar, it might as well have been served as fucking syrup for pancakes instead.

It made him mad enough to forget whether or not the rest of the party fucking knew that Reeve's stupid goddamn robot was traveling with them.

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The temple of ancients was destroyed and Reeve was shipping another Cait Sith to them. During this small break, with Aerith's assistance Cid had found that the weeds growing around the temple made an acceptable tea-substitute and had brewed a pot, intending to drink it all himself. One look at Cloud's face changed that.

With a sigh, he pulled the second cup, well-worn and matching the battered tin teapot he had kept in the Tiny Bronco, filled it up and pushed it into the blonde's hand. "Don't let that fucker mess with your head any more than he already has." He warned, feeling simultaneously too damn old and too damn young to be dealing with this bullshit.

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Bone Village didn't have proper tea either, instead it was wussy herbal shit that scalded Cid's tongue and made him want to punch the foreman in the face. So he did and the workers rewarded him with a mop -he didn't understand that fucking shit either-. They had to stay another night to find the Lunar Harp, but Cid thought it was worth it.

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There were more of the weeds scattered all throughout the City of Ancients, but Cid didn't feel like harvesting them. The battle was over and they had scattered to rest, but Cid found he couldn't even think of tea at a time like this. No one was quite sure what to say -she was gone- and they all wandered about, trying to make sense of it all.

Cid was the second-to-last to return to the campfire and was pleasantly surprised to find the his teapot was already hung over the fire, an earsplitting whistle ringing out just as he nudged the cat-wolf over and took a seat. Tits Mcgee smiled at him, passing him his tin cup already filled with piping hot tea.

"I thought we could all do with a drink," she said softly to him, before making her way around the campfire, handing each party member a cup scavenged from the city. Cid huffed at her, blowing on his drink before taking a long sip.

"It's about time somebody had some goddamn sense." He muttered, finding it sweetened to his taste. He watched silently, enjoying his properly brewed drink as Cloud finally wandered back, looking like he was lost in his own little world. Tita -Wasn't that her name?- pushed a cup into his hand -tin, the mate of Cid's own, when had that become Cloud's cup?-, and urged him to take a seat.

As they drank together, Aerith's tea warming their bellies even as her absence chilled their hearts, Cid felt that maybe they were going to be alright.

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TBC

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I intended to finish this in one go, but after a bit of thought I decided to separate it into a chapter for each disc. I'm a bit ashamed that this is so late, but at least I got part of it done and posted.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it~.

Please consider leaving a review on your way out.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: I had intended to finish this chapter last week, but I've recently restarted a serious fic that has taken up all my attention. That and I feel guilty because there are other gift-fics I need to be working on. Whoops.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I appreciate it~.

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When people think about drinking in snowy areas, they think hot chocolate, they think mint-flavor and sweets. What Cid thinks is that he will never get the taste of mint out of his mouth after accidentally ordering the local special. It did warm him up though, which was the only thing that spared the inn worker from receiving a scathing lecture on the importance of serving proper tea when someone asked for it, not this shit masquerading as tea.

He was beginning to notice a trend when it came to tea and the northern continent and he wasn't sure he liked it. As he stepped out the door, out into the cold, he lit a cigarette and took a puff then immediately gagged as the aftertaste of mint combined with the taste of his smoke. He glared at his cigarette like it had betrayed them and reconsidered turning around and giving his server what-for. No one should ever drink mint tea that was that strong.

Before he could turn around on his heel and dish out the scolding they so clearly deserved, a blur of blue, white and blonde went rolling down the hill, right through where he would have been if he hadn't stopped to cough. A couple of Shinra infantry soldiers followed behind the blur, shouting and waving. A glance at the top of the hill revealed blondie standing there with a dumbstruck look on his face.

Cid could put two and two together.

He gave him a thumbs up and kept walking.

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By mutual agreement, they never speak of what happened on the glacier. Only that it was a thing that happened and they all should move on.

To this day, Cid would tell anyone who asks that the entire thing is too fucking stupid to comprehend and that they should stop fucking asking unless they want his goddamn spear up their ass.

Only one person has ever dared to ask.

(The truth is that the Glacier is lacking in both tea and cigarettes and Cid required both to be civil to anyone. If he wasn't happy, no one was going to be.)

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For entirely different reasons, no one ever talks about what happened in the crater either.

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On the way to Junon, Cid and Rufus had a little chat. Names were called, creative swears and chairs were thrown about, but in the end, Cid sat down and listened because the man might be an evil dictator hell-bent on ruling the world -and also the brat he used to baby-sit from time to time when he was rising in the ranks- but he served some damn good tea. He also knew what Cid had learned already.

AVALANCHE was going to do whatever the fuck they wanted to, no matter what obstacle was in their way. They had tasted loss and they didn't like it. Cid didn't bother wondering when he became a part the band of idiots he was tagging along with, instead focused on Rufus and his damn smirk, taking a drag from his cigarette as he considered his offer.

"Shinra," he began, savoring his next words as he cut through the bullshit Rufus was spouting about saving the planet and not making a nuisance of himself, "Get the fuck off my ship."

It's as close to agreement as he would allow himself to get. Rufus had drawn the line when he took his airship and then tried to take his baby and he fucking knew it. The asshole looked at him, gliding to his feet in one smooth movement.

"You haven't changed." The bastard shot at him as he left the room and hopefully the god damn ship. Cid snorted, taking another drag of his cigarette and blowing out a cloud of smoke. He stubbed the remainder out in the ash-tray.

"I've changed e-fucking-nough." He said to no one, thinking of water and flowers, a warm smile even as her life faded out. He might not be doing it for the same reasons, he might not even give a damn about the planet, but like hell he was going to let that little girl's death be in vain.

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Cid sat in his quarters, staring at the empty tin cup he had set on the table as he drank from its mate. Shinra's drama was playing out, Tifa's life was on the line and he was waiting for a goddamn chance to do the right thing. His team was with him, like they had been before, no questions asked.

He was stealing his own goddamn airship. For something he didn't believe in. He took a swallow of his tea, glaring at the cup as the intercom crackled and started spouting off some nonsense about sea monsters and rescuing someone off the goddamn Junon cannon.

"You had better be alright," he snapped at it as if its owner were sitting there instead. "Or I'll fucking kill you myself." Then he turned around and went out to save the day.

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TBC

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I know I said that I was going to arrange the chapters by disc, but that seemed like a good place to end it, so... Yes, here it is.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it~.

Please consider leaving a review on your way out.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Between the new job and the wedding planning, I've been so stressed that writing coherently is a thing I haven't been able to do. However, because of the very nice review in my inbox on the day I had set aside as a writing day, I decided to work on this first.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I appreciate it~.

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Because he was such a kind and caring person, Cid made certain that everyone on board had a cup of tea before they started discussing what to do next. From the airsick ninja and the brooding vampire to Tits Mcgee and the talking dog-lion thing, he pushed a cup into every hand. He even snarled to Reeve's stupid goddamn robot that its operator had better have sat down and drank some goddamn tea before they held a meeting or they were turning this ship around so Cid could put his boot up his goddamn ass.

Not even a minute later and his phs dinged with a message from Reeve. It was a photo of an empty mug and an emoticon. Upon opening it, Cid snorted and immediately deleted it, stomping off to punch a robot in the nose.

One of them was going to regret being a fucking smartass, and it might as well be the fucker within reach.

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Cid had elected to stay on the Highwind while Tifa searched Mideel for Cloud, citing that he had to stay and make sure everything was in working order for Cloud's return. Which was only partly true, his crew had followed his routine perfectly despite him not being there, barking out orders and looming over them like an angry chimney -smoke included-, there was something more important to be fixed before they reunited.

It's an upgrade he's been desiring for a goddamn long time.

With a fond pat, he tucked away the battered tin pot and the assorted cups they've been using -Aerith's is set in a place of honor- and pulled out the nice ceramic set Shera bought right before everything went to hell. The set was a plain serviceable white, no trim, no decoration, eight cups and saucers and a single tea pot. Cid laid it out on the table, eyeing the cups speculatively.

As he finished, he dusted his hands off, realizing what was missing. He rummaged through his pockets for a moment and brought out a marker. With careful broad strokes he wrote out the names of each team member and set them down in their 'assigned' spot.

Cloud went at the head of the table, Tifa on his left, Cid to his right. Vincent took up the spot on Cid's free side even though he would likely take up residence in a nearby corner. Barret sat across from him. Yuffie near the end of the table, closest to the door. It took him a moment to decide what to do with Red, in the spirit of camaraderie, he sat his cup next to Barret's spot. It's the thought that counts after all.

When he reached the eighth cup he paused, wondering for a moment which name to put on it. For half a second he considered writing Aerith's, but dismissed it just as quickly. Honoring her wouldn't work with something that she had never touched. No matter how he tried to convince himself, he just couldn't bring himself to write the name of a robot on a tea cup.

Then it came to him, and he quickly scribbled it across, hand writing a bit sloppier than on the other seven and took a picture of it with his phs and sent it off. Finally satisfied, he took a step back and studied his work.

There would be time to introduce them to proper tea later, with ice and secret family recipes. Hot tea would have to do for now. He nodded once to himself and went off to find what his idiots had done with the hot plate. There was a better use for it now.

After that he was taking a nap and nothing they could say was going to change that.

Miles away, Reeve's phs chimed with a message. He opened it to find a cup with his name written on it and an accusation. He chuckled a bit and closed the phone. He had more on his plate than a disgruntled pilot.

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The tea he was forced to serve before the meeting was a pale imitation of what they would have in Rocket Town. The cheap, mass-produced kind that you could get anywhere in Midgar, it almost tasted right but there was something off about it that Cid couldn't quite describe. It was still worlds better than instant, so instead of complaining, he drained his cup.

And then he immediately nodded off. Let the others handle the hard stuff, he'd handle the flying, the fighting, the explosions and of course, the goddamn tea.

Of course, they didn't think of it that way and when Cid woke up he found himself in charge of this band of maniacs.

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In Corel, dust is everywhere. In the tents they pass off as houses, in their water, even in their goddamn tea. Never let it be said that Cid is not a patient man, his lip only curled slightly when he sipped at their offering -strong, but bland, no sugar added at all-, but he allowed no harsh words to escape. At least, not any more than he normally did.

Ultima materia in one hand, Huge Materia in the other. He returned to the Highwind.

It took him three full cups to get the taste of dirt out of his mouth. He saved them and they were grateful. It should have been enough.

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Fort Condor has nothing but instant tea, so Cid did them a favor and brought enough to last them a week -if they drank like he did, a month of 'normal' use-. After the fight is over, the egg has hatched and everyone is free, he settled down with the head honcho and talked shop while he waited for Cait Sith to finish repairing himself after taking a heavy blow from the Grand Horn.

The tea they served was his own, of course, but with something extra added. Strong and sweet with a bit of a kick. Cid heartily approved, but before he could ask what they added, he was distracted by an explosion from where he had left his comrades. He exchanged a look with the boss, shaking his head as he stood up to see what Cait had done to himself now.

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There are bruises on his bruises, but the smile on Cid's face hasn't faded. He has a cigarette in his mouth, a cup of Mideel's local brew -sweetened with a stalk of sugar cane- in his hand and Cloud at the head of the table, a mildly bemused look on his face. Cid took a sip of his drink -almost too sweet, it had a fruity aftertaste, but he could overlook it because it was as close to perfect as it could be without being from home-, lips quirking up in a smirk.

"Life's too fucking short to sweat the small stuff," he said, smoke billowing out of his mouth. "Stop fucking worrying about it and tell us what we're going to fucking do to solve the fucking problem."

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TBC

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I almost felt guilty for breaking Disc 2 into three parts, but then I remembered that Cid was only in the later parts of Disc 1.

I also got distracted imagining Cid and Reeve sniping at each other and griping over shared antics. 'Look what these fuckers did.' 'You think that is bad? Look what my subordinates tried to do.' 'Your Robot tripped over a stick and exploded.' 'Are you certain you didn't help it along?' That might be something I will work on the future, so keep an eye out.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please kindly consider leaving a review on your way out.


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